Down the (Storm) Drain

I was appalled last month when I left my house for a morning run and found my storm drain filled with what I thought was paint. Later, my husband confronted the contractor working on the house across the street about this potentially eco-deadly mess.

Dry wall spackle – not paint – had been dumped into our storm drain. My husband admonished the contractor who “cleaned up” the mess from the top of the drain. When I took the dog for an afternoon walk, I looked down into the storm drain and found it full of this hazardous substance. This storm drain empties into Beech Creek which empties into the Harpeth River.

Each spring I find frogs mating, laying eggs and hatching in Beech Creek. Frogs are amphibians whose skin absorbs anything that is in the water. Paint, gasoline, oil or any other substance is hazardous to them.

Oh, and I get my drinking water from these same streams.

Storm drains are not trash drains. They are for storm water only.

The employees at the public works department for my city moved quickly when I reported on my blog about the dry wall spackle dumped in our storm drain.
They sent someone out to inspect the drain and to check if the substance had made its way to Beech Creek. They also requested that we find out the name of the contractor whose employee had dumped everything into our drain.

Because someone dumped something illegal into the storm drain outside my home, I found out that there is a number to report this. The number in Davidson County is 615.313.PURE, and I’m sure your local community has a similar number and service. It is best to witness the person in the act of the dumping.

Remember: Tossing trash into storm drains (which lead to waterways) hurts all of us.

About the Author:

Barbara Mathieson is a print production and solutions consultant. She is a commissioner on Nashville’s Metro Beautification Environment Commission and a docent at the Nashville Zoo. An avid environmentalist, she started her blog, The Earth Is Not a Trash Can because she was disgusted at the amount of litter she finds.